cries out against the backsliders in Islam. He can be forbearing with the infidel enemy, whose punishment he leaves to an outraged God, but woe to those within the fold who prove disloyal or recalcitrant ! Thus he does not hesitate to order the execution of Sahraverdi, one of the most learned scholars of his age, for heresy, and his sword is out for those who for personal ambition make common cause with the infidel. Full as are his days and even his nights with the manifold duties he has taken upon himself, he is never too busy to give time to the scholars and holy men who come from all parts of his kingdom, to encourage, to counsel — and to seek assistance. Again is illustrated that innate wish to be something closer than a ruler to his subjects. One cannot escape the impression that even the interferences with his scanty time have their compensation in this same desire, and that the days of sitting in judgment, or in listening to petitioners, long though they be, and necessarily often taken up with petty matters and tedious details, bring to him certain joys. All Islam is his family, and none of his children are so remote or so humble that he can be indifferent to them. One pictures him seated upon his cushions before a throng of suppliants, each striving to get his attention ahead of his fellows. Calm and gracious sits the Sultan, seemingly oblivious of these strivings, accepting the paper nearest to his hand, and giving to it his full attention. But the throng loses all sense of propriety.